Israel warns Lebanon of prospect of ‘all-out war’ as U.S. seeks to de-escalate hostilities

• Israel's army has approved an "offensive" against Lebanon after a spike in cross-border fire, as talk of "all-out war" stoked concerns over the Gaza conflict spiraling into the broader Middle East.
• The IDF announcement came after Hezbollah released a nine-minute video of what it claimed to be aerial footage captured by surveillance drones, showing parts of Israel.
• Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a social media update that the Jewish nation is now "very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit."

Israel's army approved an offensive against Lebanon after a spike in cross-border fire, as talk of "all-out war" stoked concerns over the Gaza conflict spiraling into the broader Middle East.

"Operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated, and decisions were taken on the continuation of increasing the readiness of troops in the field" by commanders of the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli military said Tuesday night, without disclosing whether the initiative would involve mobilizing troops into the neighboring nation.

Israel and Hezbollah, which controls much of Lebanon, have been trading fire since October in parallel with the Jewish nation's war campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Both Hamas and Hezbollah benefit from Iranian patronage, and the Lebanese group claims solidarity with the plight of Palestinian people – more than 37,000 of whom have been killed since the start of the offensive, according to figures from the local Ministry of Health.

Hostilities intensified after the IDF last week reported that an Israeli strike in the southern